So, I was asked today about veggie stir fry recipes and after doing some searching and head scratching, I realized I hadn’t ever done a post on plain ol’

Vegetable Stir Fry

It’s an oversight I shall now correct.

Make no mistake about it.  Stir fry is so easy to do and especially with the kitchen essentials from unclutterer, it’s made not only cooking but also my life easier.  It’s also wonderful when we have a bunch of odds and ends that need to get turned into a dish just hanging out in the fridge.  Stuff like a stalk of celery, a carrot, half a green pepper, what have you.  We throw it all in a hot wok and in about 2 minutes you have a tasty, healthy, meatless, dinner.

Now, there is a trick to making a good stir fry, and it’s not what you think.  What is it?  Read on…

Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe

Okay, so what’s the secret?  Many recipes will say that you want to cut all of the ingredients to the same size so that they cook at roughly the same rate.  This is mostly right, however, it misses one key fact.  Not everything cooks at the same rate.  Even if they are cut to the exact same size, potatoes cook slower than tomatoes.  Carrots cook slower than onions. 

So, don’t dogmatically chop everything to the same size with stir fry.  What you want to do is cut your less dense items (onions, tomatoes, tofu, broccoli, celery) one size and your denser items (cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, green peppers, seitan) a smaller size. 

Okay, with that said, now let’s get to the recipe.  By the way, this recipe is a typical vegetable mix.  Feel free to go with whatever you like.

Oh, one more thing.  The art of stir frying is the art of getting the wok and the oil HOT and then cooking the food as little as possible.  Keep that in mind!

Vegetable Stir Fry Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 ounces, tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 cloves garlic,  minced
• 1 onion, cut into 1/2 squares
• 8 button mushrooms, quartered
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 4 tablespoons broth
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Put your wok on high heat.  Add two tablespoons of oil and let it get hot.

Then add the tofu and stir fry until it starts to brown.  Remove to a bowl.

Add two more tablespoons of oil.  Add the garlic and stir fry for about 10 seconds.  Add the onions and mushrooms.  Stir fry until the onions just turn translucent.  Put it in the same bowl as the tofu.

Add the last bit of oil, then add the carrots and the red pepper.  Cook until the peppers start to get soft, then put everything back into the wok with the broth, soy sauce, sugar, tahini, and garlic powder.  Stir well.

Let the broth/soy sauce come to a boil.  Then add the cornstarch to one tablespoon of water.  Mix well and pour into the sauce.  Continue cooking until the sauce thickens (about 10 seconds.)

Serve with rice and enjoy!